FOX keeps ordering more 'Cleveland' episodes

No, this isn't a back-nine order for the first season. That came last November.

And no, this isn't an order for a second season. That came this May, meaning that FOX had already picked up 35 episodes of "The Cleveland Show" before the "Family Guy" spin-off even premiered.

Instead, FOX sources confirm that the network has given "The Cleveland Show" a back-nine order for its second season, a vote of confidence that's indicative both of the series' early ratings might, but also just how long it takes to make animated shows. By our count, this extends "The Cleveland Show" through the spring of 2011. Who knows how many additional episodes will have been ordered by that time!

Although it's always difficult to calculate FOX's fall Sunday ratings, peppered with NFL overrun as they usually tend to be, "The Cleveland Show has averaged an excellent 4.5 rating in the 18-49 demo, along with roughly 9 million overall viewers. In addition, no new fall show is drawing a younger audience, which is important for FOX's narrowly focused Animation Domination block.

"The Cleveland Show" was created by Seth MacFarlane, Rich Appel and Mike Henry, who also voices the title character. Other vocal talent includes Sanaa Lathan, Reagan Gomez-Preston, Kevin Michael Richardson and MacFarlane, as America's favorite religious fundamentalist bear. [Yes, there are follow-up punchlines to that joke, but this is a family website.]

A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.